PSALM 30 OF LEMONS AND LEMONADE

Written by , Rector of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, Richmond, Virginia
 
¹ I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me.
² O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me.
³ O LORD, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit.
⁴ Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name.
⁵ For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
⁶ When I felt secure, I said, “I will never be shaken.”
⁷ O LORD, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed.
⁸ To you, O LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy:
⁹ “What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
¹⁰ Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me; O LORD, be my help.”
¹¹ You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
¹² that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.

How different the psalmist is than we are. When suffering and travail come into our lives our first reaction is “Why is this happening to me?” We live by a high doctrine of self-focused fairness. I do not deserve to experience this negative event. My neighbor, coworker or the ubiquitous “they” behave much worse than I do. We tend to see suffering as meaningless and something to be eliminated from our world. In a culture of self-affirmation the idea that one might actually have some responsibility for one’s suffering is repugnant.

The psalmist is not distracted by questions of why. His is a high doctrine of the sovereignty of God. He assumes that God is behind his suffering, but also knows God to be just and merciful, and therefore not to be blamed for his suffering. Given those factors, there remains only one conclusion as to whom is the cause of that suffering – himself. And his question is not, “What did I do?” but “What can I learn from this?” Even in this fallen world, when we were disciplined by our earthly fathers it was a temporary negative event that was meant to prepare us for a lifetime of better behavior and more positive outcomes. Our focus when being disciplined was to be on our future behavior and not on the fact that we experienced discipline.

Even if we cannot get ourselves to accept that our suffering is due to something we have done, individually or corporately, we can learn from the psalmist to spend our energy on what lessons we can glean from the experience rather than dwell on how much we did not deserve to suffer. St. Paul is giving us the same message in Romans:

^5:3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. (Romans 5:3-5)

Our God is a just and merciful God. He is also the God of redemption. If we believe that, then we can face any suffering focusing on how God will draw us nearer to himself, which in reality is the true expression of humility.

¹⁰ “Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me; O LORD, be my help.” 11 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, 12 that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever. Amen.